Sanctions against Iran are working but you won't have heard that at the presidential debate – because the US has Europe to thankThere was a moment, in the second presidential debate, when President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney circled each...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced the establishment of an ’Iran Task Force’ which will implement the agreements reached in negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue, the Associated Press reported.&nbsp...

On Saturday the EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton condemned anti-Israel remarks made by Iranian leaders last week. On Friday the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a “cancerous tumour”, and on Wed...

The recent Iran nuclear talks in Moscow were disappointing. The EU’s offer of ‘peanuts for diamonds’ was disingenuous. Iran wants recognition of its right to enrich uranium and an easing of sanctions in exchange for suspension of 20 per cen...

The long border with Iraq undermines US and EU efforts to stop Iran's nuclear programme with trade sanctionsThe US and EU have announced new sanctions in the hope of persuading Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons programme, though how effect...

The Council adopted the following conclusions: "1. Recalling the European Council conclusions of 9 December 2011 and the Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions of 1 December, the Council reiterates its serious and deepening concerns over t...

By DON MELVIN BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union formally adopted an oil embargo Monday against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country’s central bank, part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear prog...

From the start of 2012 the spotlight on Iran and for good reason. Today the entire region is now on tenterhooks for the next move, with US, Iranian and Gulf armies on the highest war alert. Earlier the main scenario was that Israel would make an prev...

European leaders have agreed to go forward with a new round of unilateral sanctions, in which the EU would ban oil imports from Iran. Instead of actually imposing these sanctions however, the EU should threaten to impose them, using them as a "stick"...

The London Liberal Democrats’ fundraising dinner at the National Liberal Club this evening of course featured Brian Paddick and Caroline Pidgeon (hot-foot from the Evening Standard’s 1000 most influential Londoners awards), who both spok...

Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, paid a four-day state visit to Iran starting on February 13, to discuss ways to further bilateral cooperation. The sheer frequency of such high level mutual visits between the two countries in recent years indicate...

Cross-posted from Amnesty International Urgent life-saving appeal launched Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of a Kurdish law student scheduled for 26 December, and for the authorities to commute his de...

Where trade unionists start their day on the net. This is extremely urgent; please act immediately. Imprisoned trade union leader, Reza Shahabi, has been on hunger strike since 4 December in protest at his continuing detention. Amnesty International...

IMF's Lipsky insists that fears of a Euro collapse are "wildly exaggerated." P5+1 set to meet Iranian representatives in Geneva next week. Who should control an international climate fund? Not the World Bank or IMF, say many developing...

While the BBC continues to spend licence-payers money on promoting religion, the least we have a right to expect is that it will do so in a reasonably balanced manner, giving a fair crack of the whip to civilised values and secular opinions. It is...

Help Save Sakineh Ashianti’s Life! Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Iranian Mother, could be put to death at any moment August 5: Sakineh’s lawyer arrested; fate of Sakineh to be handed down next week – hanging likely; President Lula’s...

I have blogged before both on negotation and Iran. A fascinating book by John W Limbert (‘Negotiating with Iran’, 2009) brings the two aspects together. The author spent 33 years in the US Foreign Service, is a fluent Farsi speaker and has...

This is a press release from Iran Solidarity and the International Committee Against Stoning The victim in the Iran stoning case, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz prison. Moreover, her well known human rights l...

We all know that the EU has imposed stricter sanctions on Iran than provided for in the United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 (2010). It is interesting, though, to consider the legal background of this measure. The new sanctions are …...

EU foreign ministers to give green light for tough Iran sanctions. AFP reports: The European Union will hit Iran with tough sanctions against its vital oil and gas industry on Monday in a bid to lure Tehran back to the negotiating table over its disp...

Iran has expressed willingness to have talks with the European Union on its nuclear programme after the month of Ramadan ends in early September, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday. READ MORE...

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, are currently involved in a diplomatic dance over resuming talks on Tehran's nuclear program. If the talks do indeed come to fruition, As...

Obama signs into law new US sanctions on Iran, the New York Times reports: President Obama on Thursday signed into law new unilateral American sanctions on Iran that go beyond the penalties imposed by the United Nations last month as he tries to esca...

It may not approach the scale of the great battleship race between Britain and Germany that preceded World War I, but a naval build-up is currently and quietly taking place on the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan appears to be setting the pace, with plans to...

President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan is committed to increasing its military power that now surpasses the budget of Armenia, a neighboring country that occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, ignoring international law. READ MORE...

The establishment of a stable and viable EU foreign policy has always been a desideratum amongst its member states. In spite of the repeated efforts from the EU administration to establish a coherent EU profile on various aspects of political, econom...

The European Union and the United States apparently find it easier to take on the Iranian nuclear problem than the global financial crisis. On June 17, EU government chiefs agreed to new sanctions against Iran at a Brussels summit. U.S. President...

EU leaders approve fresh sanctions against Iran. The BBC reports: European Union leaders have approved a new set of sanctions against Iran that go further than the latest United Nations measures. The fresh EU sanctions include a ban on investments, t...

In announcing the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, President Obama stressed not once but twice Iran's increasing "isolation" from the world. This claim is not surprising considering that after 16...

EU plans new sanctions on Iran. The FT reports from yesterday’s EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxembourg: European Union governments are expected to impose new sanctions against Iran that would go further than those approved by the United Nat...

UN Iran sanctions vote on Wednesday. Politico’s Laura Rozen reports: “The goal is Wednesday,” one European diplomat said of the anticipated vote date. “Vote is likely Wednesday,” another diplomatic source in New York said. The text of t...

UN vote on Iran delayed because of Israeli raid. Politico’s Laura Rozen reports: A vote on a new UN Iran sanctions resolution will likely be pushed back due to diplomatic fallout from the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla, among other reaso...

How time flies when you’re having fun. I spent the best part of Wednesday trailing Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, around Brussels. After about four hours it dawned on me that, no matter how strange and disturbing som...

WASHINGTON–It has been quite a week for diplomacy on Iran. On the eve of agreement on a new round of sanctions among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the leaders of Turkey and Brazil concluded a dramatic visit to Tehran, bringi...

The seemingly monotonous and inevitable staggering towards new United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran has been upset by the deal hammered out between Iran, Turkey and Brazil earlier this week. There are clear benefits for all th...